Wednesday, October 29, 2014

After a month off, the usual suspects managed to find some free time and get together for a game of MFZ:RA. I'm calling this the "Creepy Crawlies" game because it 1) occurred in October, and 2) we all fielded multi-leg frames.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. The set, as built to the instructions, falls inside the Cruiser length limit for IO. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Above. (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes, but not very many. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: B- (-5). Like all of the small scale Star Trek ship sets, this one gets hamstrung by the cost.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Pieces. Mostly plates and tiles. I do see a Lampholder and a couple of the new, small brackets. There's also that funky Double Pin w/Pin Holder Technic piece on the middle left of the picture. All in all, not really a lot of exceedingly useful parts.

Creation. I came up with a Scouting

Frame. MFZ Stats: 2Y/1Gd8/2W.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? At. (0)(The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: B+ (+5). This one's a little sparse but does have some useful pieces.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Parts. Yay, wheels. Mostly plates, tiles, and slopes -- studless and
inverted -- in this set. The "T" shaped plate is really interesting because
it has that half stud offset that you usually only get with Jumper Plates.

Build. Okay, I know, another IO frigate. What

can I say, they're easy with these kinds of sets.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. A Frigate for MFZ:IO, again. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: A- (+10). This one's a little sparse but does have some useful pieces.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Here's a review of the second Lego polybag from the Hallowe'en seasonal section in Target for this year.

Bag. Purchased for $3.99. That gives us a Price per Piece of $0.09.

Instructions.

Parts. Lots of plates in this one, mostly of the wedge variety. We have some slopes w/no studs of the 2x2 and 1x4 variety, along with some Cheese Slopes in opaque and translucent. Some axle holders, technic bits, a cone, a mudguard plate, a modified bracket, and a flame piece round out the selection. The only piece out of this set that I can never have enough of is the translucent 2x2 studless slope. They make great cockpit pieces.

Creation. A Frigate for MFZ:IO, for the Nth time. I call it the

Bat-Frigate, which has the following stats, 2Ra+d8/1G/2W.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: A- (+10). No minifig is a good starting point but beyond that I'm not seeing a lot to recommend this set.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Parts. There are a lot of plates and inverted slopes in this set. The pieces that most intrigue me are the two black ones in the lower left corner, 1x2 multi-slope bricks with studs on all three faces. Those pieces look to be great for SNOT work.

Creation. Another IO Frigate.

Stats: 2Ra+d8/1Y/1G/2W.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. A Frigate for MFZ:IO, again. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: A- (+10). These sets look to be a lot of fun. No minifigs and some interesting pieces make these a great bargain.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Parts. A lot of plates and wedge plates. Two of those funky "T" plates, two 1x5 stud plates, and a weird 2x4 Jumper Plate stand out from the plates. Four bent bars, a short 2x2 cone, a 1x2 Studded Slope, and a Bar/Pin piece stand out for "regular" parts.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. A Frigate for MFZ:IO is an easy creation. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: A- (+10). These sets look to be a lot of fun. No minifigs and some interesting pieces make these a great bargain.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Mega Bloks site doesn't seem to have a listing for this line. Well, it does have an Idea Builders line but it only has two sets and both of them are bigger than polybags.

Bag. I paid $3.00 at Target for this. The Price per Piece is $0.08.

Instructions.

Pieces. We've got a couple of SNOT pieces here, a bunch of slopes including a 1x3 Double Inverted Slope and one 1x1 curved slope brick. A few Bar Claws, one 1x1 Round Plate w/Bar, a T piece, a tiny antenna, a Modified Tile w/Bar, and a 1x2 Modified Slope all make for some interesting greebling. Not to mention the majority of parts are in either Battleship Grey or Silver. There is a 1x8 Plate missing from this picture though. I discovered it while writing this review.

Creation. Another Frigate for MFZ:IO. Lets go with 2Ra/2Rs/1Y/1G/2W for stats.

The Questions:Can you build a frame, or frames, right away? Yes. A Frigate for MFZ:IO is an easy creation. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: A- (+10). These sets look to be a lot of fun. No minifigs and some interesting pieces make these a great bargain.